Post # 12 - A  Concise Note on Nibbana Part 1 

Are you visiting this Blog for the 1^st time?  If so I suggest that you read the 1^st Post on the Blog from the Archives before reading on.

Nibbana – Some Pointers to the Way

I feel very privileged that you visited my Blog.

This casts upon me a responsibility to ensure that this visit is fruitful for you. Due to this concern  I have for visitors to the Buddhist Practices in Daily Life Blog,  I made a special effort to search for some material on this very important subject, to place before you.

Coincidentally I had the occasion of being invited by the Old Teachers’ Association of a Leading School to give a talk on this subject. As that audience was very special for me, being former teachers, who I regard with high esteem as they are a group, like their other counterparts, who help open the eyes of children, I made a special effort to research on this subject to collect some relevant facts to present before them on that occasion. The source material is listed at the end of the next post. I therefore took the opportunity to prepare a synopsis of the talk to post in this Blog.   

Researching on these source documents was quite an experience. What I found out from this research is that this is a very extensive topic and needed some effort from me to understand the underlying meaning of the topic. So I decided to pick out some special points about Nibbana from this material to share with you as pointers, with the objective of creating sufficient interest and curiosity in your minds. With this interest created I hope you will go out and look for more of such material on Nibbana to learn further about this important subject.

Reference to Nibbana is very common in most Dhamma Desanas (talks). It is indeed the main focus in the Dhamma that Buddha taught. Descriptions given in Dhamma talks about Nibbana are sometimes a little profound or other times somewhat cursory, and are often misunderstood. People thus tend to treat Nibbana as something mystic and/or divine and one which is beyond ones easy reach. It is also a common belief that Nibbana is something to be achieved after death. This understanding is of course quite contrary to Buddha’s teaching, where he refers to Nibbana as an existing reality and encourages the disciples to realize Nibbana in this very life itself.

The explanation of the nature of Nibbana is beyond conventional words and language. Nibbana is a world transcending phenomena and therefore words and language created to describe worldly phenomena fall short of the need. It has therefore been described in negative ways or expressed as states achieved by default, such as one would explain darkness as absence of light. In other words by a process of exclusion.These references include descriptions such as; Nibbana is negation of suffering; cessation of birth, old age and death; negating defilements that keep us in bondage; destruction of greed, hatred and delusion; eradication of craving etc.

Nibbana is also described  in positive ways by references such as, desirable, un-excelled, pinnacle of happiness and ultimate goal; supreme happiness; perfect bliss; freedom and emancipation; state of complete happiness, peace, fearlessness and equanimity.

One finds that Nibbana as a phenomenon is not taught in any other religion and is unique to Buddha- Dhamma. Buddha-Dhamma is special and has to be seen not as a religion as religions go. With a religion one can get solace from a divine source by prayer. In Buddha-Dhamma it is very clear that one has to work out one’s own salvation. No outside source can help. Buddha-Dhamma is not a philosophy. Philosophies articulate theories and postulations that are rational and logical and appeal to the intellectual mind. But philosophies are often not verifiable or can be scientifically tested. On the other hand Buddha-Dhamma is well articulated in the beginning to be pure, in the middle to be pure and at the end to be pure and well consistent and complementary in all three stages. It leads respectively to, firstly achieving high moral attainment or virtue, then concentration and clear comprehension, and finally realization of reality or wisdom. Most of all Buddha-Dhamma  can be experienced. It is best described only as a  teaching or practice to do with a correct way of life, to reach liberation from this unsatisfactory process of birth and death and one  that can be experienced.  

The word Dhamma in Buddha-Dhamma, means the abiding laws and principles that govern the dynamics of the cosmos. This Dhamma exists today; it existed yesterday; existed during the time of Gauthama the Buddha and way before him into the infinite past. Dhamma will exist tomorrow and will continue to exist way into the infinity of the future. Therefore this Dhamma is the ultimate reality in this Cosmos.

The word Buddha refers to a title given to a special person who has reached enlightenment through ardent effort and striving to develop the qualities of Seela (virtue), Samadhi (one-pointed concentration), and Panna (experiential wisdom) to the highest possible level.  Siddartha Gauthama strived hard and reached this Buddha-hood some 2600 years ago. With this developed mind he discovered the Dhamma, the existing reality. He did not create it, but only saw it. What he saw was the nature of Dhamma; how it functions and influences; how it influences the living being; what the consequence or impact of this influence is; and the way, to cope. This is the doctrine. This is Buddha-Dhamma. Therefore one could see how special Buddha-Dhamma is.

From what Buddha discovered and  taught, we must try to understand fully the four noble truths, the laws of cause and effect and the unsatisfactory state of the Samsaric (perpetual re-becoming) process.

Bhikku Bodhi the scholar monk from US, in a Dhamma talk stated that:

“The cause for unhappiness, discontent and suffering is the tension between desire and the lack of what is desired. The two possible approaches to overcome this tension are to obtain what is desired or eliminate desire. Usually man goes for the first option by believing that happiness can be found by satisfying desire. Getting things from outside is vulnerable for failure. When they are not permanent, the loss is painful. The second option of eliminating desire is independent of external objects and therefore not vulnerable for failure. It is a happiness and inner satisfaction that can never be destroyed. Full freedom from suffering is elimination of craving and ending re-becoming.  It is the state of Nibbana, the ultimate goal of a Buddhist”.

When one sees Nibbana this way, one is encouraged to find out how it can be realized. It is this motivation and inspiration that this Post is aiming to establish.

If one is now curious about Nibbana and wants to know how this can be realized, he will first want to trust the dhamma that Buddha taught and then take up the practice step by step. The four Noble Truths that the Buddha taught consisting of Dhukka or the unsatisfactory nature of existence, the cause, the liberation or Nibbana, and the path of practice to liberation has to be fully understood..

Please see the next post on - Nibbana Part 2 for the path to practice